Analysis of the polymorphic variant rs5498 of ICAM-1 in melanoma patients from southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Melanoma is a highly lethal skin cancer whose worldwide frequency increases every year. Metastatic melanoma is aggressive and resistant to conventional therapy. Cell adhesion molecules play a central role in cell-cell interactions, especially in metastasis and immunity. Among cell adhesion molecules, which are potential risk factors for melanoma, ICAM-1 was previously correlated with melanoma progression. This study aimed to verify the presence and frequency of the polymorphic variant rs5498 (-1548 A/G, K469E) of the ICAM1 gene in a sample of melanoma patients from southeastern Brazil. A total of 42 melanoma patients and 16 controls were genotyped and the frequencies of each variant were calculated. Our results indicate a frequency of 0.655 for the K allele in cases and of 0.719 for the control group. In our population, no correlation was identified between the rs5498 SNP and melanoma risk, although an increase in the sample size as well as the introduction of other variants of this and other adhesion molecules are needed in order to better establish the real role of such molecules in melanoma development and clinics.